Democracy

WATCH THIS EVENT HERE. In today’s polarized political climate, does  religion still have a role to play in American democracy? The Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham will discuss the… Read More

Students in the political science course, Unity and American Democracy, are no strangers to high-profile guest speakers. Throughout the semester, they have been hearing from renowned experts and leaders. But when they entered the classroom on Tuesday, November 30, they found one of Vanderbilt’s own at the lectern: Chancellor… Read More

In 1876, America weathered an economic roller coaster, a questionable presidential election and social unrest. Many envisioned the nation’s colleges and universities as the institutions best equipped to maintain the bonds between citizens and their elected government. However, a major in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, rather than a professor or college president, would provide the framework which enabled American colleges and universities to rise to global preeminence, when Henry Martyn Robert published the first edition of his Robert’s Rules of Order. Read More

Unity’s definition is too often inspected under a microscope—or rather a macroscope—of division among differing groups at a grand scale, lacking little attention to the methods by which unity arrives among all groups, such as those characterized by an overlapping interest, belief, healing wound, or relationship. Even more so, all forms of unity—whether it is nations or neighbors—share a common thread of connection which permits for a sustainable agreement. Read More

By: Hee Na Cho, Class of 2025 When it comes to unity, the question often asked usually does not concern its definition; rather, many choose to consider the question, “Why are we polarized?” As a freshman with no extensive knowledge on political science, I would have trouble explaining where unity… Read More

By: Brennan Cegelka, Class of 2023  On the day America declared its independence from Great Britain, the Continental Congress tasked three of our most esteemed Founding Fathers – Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, with creating the first seal of the United States. While the seal they proposed ultimately… Read More